Saturday, July 14, 2007

A Beetroot & Potato Pie

UPDATE 22.8.2007One of my Estonian readers tried this pie and really liked it. You can see her photo here.

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I posted the above teaser picture yesterday and asked you to guess what it was. Well, I'm sorry to tell that none of the seven readers who left their guess in the comments got it right. It's not a cherry pie, nor raspberry pie and it's definitely not a rhubarb pie (we don't really eat rhubarb after St John's night over here). And there's no meringue involved either.

It wasn't even a sweet pie, but a savoury one. But even if I had told you that, I doubt that you had guessed the ingredients - it's a beetroot & potato pie :)

And what a brilliant pie it was. Apart from being tasty (though you do need to like beetroot to like a beetroot pie, of course), it also looked beautiful, and my whole extended family wholeheartedly approved. The recipe is very slightly adapted from the Finnish Herkkutori site and the recipe below will yield 6 generous slices. If you don't feel like making a pie, yet want something with lovely beets and new potatoes, then check out Alanna's recipe for Scalloped Potatoes with Beetroots.

First, prepare the pastry. Mix flour with baking powder and knead it into the soft butter, adding milk bit by bit (you may need a spoonful more or less, so don't rush). Press the pastry into a ball, wrap in plastic and put into the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the filling, boil beets and potatoes (separately) until almost done (for small beets, this would probably mean about 20-25 minutes). Drain and cool and peel. (You can obviously also use left-over boiled beets and potatoes). Cut into thin slices (about 3-4 mm thick).

Mix eggs, sour cream and milk in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Put aside.

Divide the pastry into two pieces (about 1/3 and 2/3). Roll the larger piece of pastry into a thin disc to cover the bottom and sides of a 25 cm high springform non-stick pie dish. Press firmly onto the sides.

Now layer the potatoes and beets into the pastry shell, pour over the egg and cream mixture.

Roll the smaller pastry piece into a disc large enough to cover the pie, place over the filling and press edges firmly together.

Brush with an egg, pierce couple of holes into the lid and place into the lower shelf of a pre-heated 190-200 C oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pie is lovely golden brown.

Let it cool a little, then remove the springform dish.

Serve with a herby yogurt or sour cream sauce. The pie is excellent when still warm, but can also be taken along to a picnic on the following day, as it doesn't loose any of the flavour when cold (and if you compare the second and third photo, then you can see that the beetroot 'leaks' into the potato layers overnight).

BLAST FROM THE PASTTwo years ago I posted a recipe for Paul Hollywood's mint and halloumi bread. Although I think Mr Hollywood got some of the quantities wrong (20 grams of dried mint is A LOT!!!), the bread itself is fabulous and definitely worth trying.

How in the world did I miss the sneak preview? I think I might have guessed!!! But OH this looks good. And I'm in such a fiddle: I'm already taking THREE things to a potluck tomorrow except that NONE are made and NONE would be half as gorgeous as this and I just oh my happen to have ALL the ingredients for it already at home including just dug up beets. Our next project, indeed!!!

Pille - How fabulous, and what a great way to use both beets and potatoes. I am a big fan of your recipes that feature beets. It helps to have someone on hand who can source those recipes in languages I sadly do not understand...This is definitely on my list of food to make.